A perforated skimmer pierced all through with holes is a very necessary utensil in making sweetmeats.
The water used for melting the sugar should be very clear; spring or pump water is best. but if you are obliged to use river water, let it first be filtered. Any turbidness or impurity in the water will injure the clearness of the sweetmeats.
If sweetmeats ferment in the jars, boil them over again with additional sugar.
Take eight pounds of the best double-refined loaf-sugar, and break it up or powder it. Have ready the whites of two eggs, beaten to a strong froth. Stir the white of egg gradually into two quarts of very clear spring or pump water. Put the sugar into a porcelain kettle, and mix with it the water and white of egg. While the sugar is melting, stir it frequently; and when it is entirely dissolved, put the kettle over a moderate fire, and let it boil, carefully taking off the scum as it comes to the top, and pouring in a little cold water when you find the syrup rising so as to run over the edge of the kettle. It will be well when it first boils hard to pour in half a pint of cold water to keep down the bubbles so that the scum may appear, and be easily removed. You must not however boil it to candy height, so that the bubbles will look like hard pearls, and the syrup will harden in the spoon and hang from it in strings; for though very thick and clear it must continue liquid. When it is done, let it stand till it gets quite cold; and if you do not want it for immediate use, put it into bottles and seal the corks.
When you wish to use this syrup for preserving, you have only to put the fruit into it, and boil it till tender and clear, but not till it breaks. Large fruit that is done whole, should first be boiled tender in a very thin syrup that it may not shrink. Small fruit, such as raspberries, strawberries, grapes, currants, gooseberries, &c. may, if perfectly ripe, be put raw into strong cold sugar syrup; they will thus retain their form and colour, and then freshness and natural taste. They must be put into small glass jars, and kept well covered with the syrup. This, however, is an experiment which sometimes fails, and had best be tried on a scale, or only for immediate use.
Take root of green ginger, and pare it neatly with a sharp knife, throwing it into a pan of cold water as you pare it. Then boil it till tender all through, changing the water three times. Each time put on the ginger is quite cold water to lake out the excessive heat. When it is perfectly tender, throw it again into a pan of cold water, and let it lie an hour or more; this will make it crisp. In the mean time prepare the syrup. For every six pounds of ginger root, clarify seven pounds of the best double-refined loaf-sugar. Break up the sugar, put it into a preserving kettle, and melt it in spring or pump water, (into which you have stirred gradually the beaten white of two eggs,) allowing a pint of water to each pound of sugar. Boil and skim it well. Then let the syrup stand till it is cold; and having drained the ginger, pour the syrup over it, cover it, and do not disturb it for two days. Then, having poured it from the ginger, boil the syrup over again. As soon as it is cold, pour it again on the ginger, and let it stand at least three days. Afterwards boil the syrup again, and pour it hot over the ginger. Proceed in this manner till you find that the syrup has thoroughly penetrated the ginger, (which you may ascertain by its taste and appearance when you cut a piece off,) and till the syrup becomes very thick and rich. Then put it all into jars, and cover it closely.
If you put the syrup hot to the ginger at first, it will shrink and shrivel. After the first time, you have only to boil and reboil the syrup; as it is not probable that it will require any further clarifying if carefully skimmed. It will be greatly improved by adding some lemon-juice at the close of the last boiling.